Economics, earnings reports, and market events for the week ahead.

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Next week the market-moving news will be dominated by the FOMC meeting on Wednesday, and remarks from the Federal Reserve about its forward plans for monetary policy.

The FOMC monetary policy statement, due out at 2 p.m. ET on Wednesday, will be followed by a press conference with Ben Bernanke 30 minutes later. It's unlikely that any announcement about a taper in the Fed's bond-buying program will move the market, as the market is expecting a slight taper. However, if the taper is extreme in either direction -- if purchases will not be reduced, or if the reduction is sizable -- the market will react. Interest rates will move if the Fed changes its unemployment or inflation thresholds for future policy action. The first rate hike is expected to occur in February 2015, and any change in that timing would result in a large decline or increase in US Treasuries. Also, the Fed may look to defend its inflation goal, an unprecedented step since the central bank has always been an inflation-fighting institution. Lastly, central growth forecasts should be taken down to reflect the slower pace of growth projected for this year.

Economic releases will also make the news. On Monday, we see the first glimpse of September manufacturing data from the NY Fed's Empire Manufacturing survey. Additionally, August industrial production and capacity utilization figures will be released. In the August ISM manufacturing survey, the diffusion index and new orders sub component rose to the highest level since April 2011 and represented the strongest continued acceleration since spring 2009. Economists are expecting a strong 0.5% monthly growth in industrial production.

Preliminary August housing data is due out on Wednesday in the form of housing starts and building permits. Economists are estimating a modest 2.1% growth in starts and a 0.4% decline in permits. The August retail sales report this past week showed a -0.9% decline in building materials, which typically indicates a decline in building permits. However, the July report was revised up to +0.4% from -1.8%, so the net change should be close to neutral. New home starts peaked in March and new home contracts peaked in July. The other piece of housing data out for the week is Thursday's existing home sales. Sales are expected to fall 2.6% to an annual rate of 5.25 million.

The last piece of economic data due out is August consumer price indices. The consumer price index is estimated to fall to an annual rate of 1.6% from 2.0% in the prior month. A decline is forecast in part because of falling gas prices; the core index is forecast to rise to an annual rate of 1.8% from 1.7%. National average gas prices fell by $0.035 during the month of August. Grain prices were also down heavily on a much better than expected crop report.

The Bank of India will release its monetary policy decision on Friday morning. This decision had been delayed by the new governor in order to give him time to work out the central bank's forward policy. Another central bank-related release is the Bank of England's minutes from the meeting earlier this month. New governor Mark Carney appears to have a divided Monetary Policy Council and these minutes should offer more information on the behind-the-scenes sentiment.

The unofficial start of earnings season begins next week with a report from economic bellwether Fedex (NYSE:FDX). Other reports for the week include Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE), Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL), and General Mills (NYSE:GIS).

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